To love a puppet
by Zerutso
Summary: The story of a young teen named Sam and the re-opening of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, which also happens to have his childhood favourite animatronic there...who he had a crush on. Yikes. Male OC/Female Marionette romance fic. Rated M for mature themes. Not a smut fic.
1. The new and improved Freddy Fazbear's!

**This is a FNAF romance fic starring a male OC and a female Marionette. Rated M for mature themes. I don't think there will be any actual sex scenes, but it may be discussed in the story later on. The story is set in a universe where the animatronics were never haunted by the dead children, they're just really smart. This first chapter is short, but it is only an introduction to the main character. The next chapter will be out asap.**

**My first fic on this site and about Fnaf in general, so constructive critiscm is always welcome. Enjoy!**

"God, there's nothing on the TV nowadays, I swear."

Sam Baker, a 19 year old student, had been sat at home all day. It was a saturday and his friends were busy. So, the only thing he could do as of right now was sit at home and babysit his 10 year old sister, Mary, who was now increasingly starting to get on his nerves.

"Sam, want to play with me?"

The young adult waved his hand and continued to stare at the tv, flicking through the channels rapidly with the remote in his hand. "No"

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeasseee?"

He sighed and tried to hide his ever yet growing frustration. He was about to flick to yet another channel in the sea of kids cartoons and drama shows before a very loud and obnoxious ad caught his and his sister's attention.

"Hey there, kids! It's me, Freddy Fazbear! And I'm here with my friends Chica, Bonnie, Foxy and many others to welcome you to my new improved resturant! The remade Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria!"

Sam chuckled to himself. "_Would you look at that? The old place is back up and running. Never thought it'd get rebuilt after the..._"

Before he could even finish his thought process, Mary pointed at the tv and screamed giddily, causing him to hold his hands against his ears and glare at her.

"Jesus, will you calm down?! What's wrong?"

She giggled and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry...I just really want to go. It looks like fun! Can we go? Please?"

He sighed and rubbed his temple. He really didn't want to go, but...after seeing the ad, he was really interested in seeing what the new place was like. One thing was concerning him, though. It originally shut down when he was Mary's age due to some of the guards going missing during their night shift. He remembered bawling his eyes out as a kid due to his young mind not being able to handle the idea of the place shutting down. He also remembered the rumours about the night guards apparently being stuffed inside the spare animatronic suits by the actual animatronic mascots themselves. While he wasn't concerned all that much for his own safety, it was his sister that he was worried about. It had been closed down since he was a kid, so, she had obviously never been. She had heard of the stories from him, but he obviously didn't tell her about the darker rumours.

After a few minutes of thinking, he finally decided. "Alright. I'll phone dad and see what he says.

Mary nodded ecstatically and smiled. "Thank you!"

He nodded in return and walked into the kitchen with his phone to have some peace and quiet from his sister while he was on the phone to his dad. He tapped on his contacts and brung up his father in the list, tapped on his number and called him up. It took a few seconds before he heard his father's voice come through.

"Hello? Sam? What's up? Are you alright?"

Sam never really phoned his parents up, so whenever he did, they worried more than they should.

"Yes, dad, everything is completely fine. I just wanted to ask something. An ad just played on the tv showcasing the new rebuilt Freddy Fazbear's Pizza joint and Mary wants to go. Was going to ask if it's alright if I take her as her guardian and all while you and mom are at work."

He could hear his dad cough and slightly stutter as he got out his next sentence.

"F-freddy Fazbears? Wasn't that the joint that shut down due to the guards who went missing?"

"Yeah, it was. The one that I went to when I was a kid. I don't remember much except that my favourite mascot was the..."

His dad chuckled slightly.

"The marionette. You used to love that thing. You even had a tiny crush on it..her? I can't remember if it even had a gender. It did from what I remember..."

Sam laughed nervously and went red in the face in response. "Yeah. I think it was a female. I didn't remember at first. It just hit me now. Jesus, I was a weird kid. Anyway, about the rumours, it concerned me at first. But if the place has been rebuilt after all these years, surely it must have all been sorted by now. And it's not like she'll be there by herself, I can look after her and make sure she's alright. She might get on my nerves, but she's still my sister."

His father nodded, even though he knew his son couldn't see it. "Alright, you two can go. Just make sure to keep an eye on her and don't let her go anywhere on her own, understand?"

"Of course. I won't let her out of my sight, dad. Promise."

"Okay. I'm trusting you. You two take care, alright? I'll let your mother know where you're going in case she gets in and you're not at home by then."

Sam walked into the living room and gave a thumbs up with a smirk to his sister while still on the phone, making her grow a knowing smile on her face. "Thanks dad, love ya."

"Love you too, fella."

At this point, he ended the call and witnessed his sister run up to him and hug him. "Thank you thank you!"

He chuckled and patted her heard. "Hey now, don't get all soppy on me. I'm still annoyed at you for nagging me to go earlier while I was trying to watch tv. Anyway, get your things ready. I'll go get some cash."

She nodded and ran up the stairs, making him smirk. He grabbed out his wallet and took out some cash. The ad had stated that the pizzeria was rebuilt in the same area, which from what he remembered was only a 10 minute walk from their house. He got his jacket on and got to the stairs to find his sister already ready and waiting. She was bouncing up and down impatiently.

"Come on! Hurry up, slowpoke!"

He pushed her out the door slightly and sighed. "Come on then, you little monster. Let's go to freddy fazbear's. He suddenly thought to himself "_Wonder if the Marionette is still there? I sorta hope so. I want to see how she's changed."_


	2. Meeting the animatronics

**Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria, 3:05PM**

Sam and Mary had made it to the resturant. From his eyes, it looked the exact same from what he remembered it, only looking a lot cleaner and bigger. He held his sister's hand and walked into the front door, noticing that there was an animatronic that he remembered.

"_Balloon boy? Didn't expect them to keep him. Never seemed like a main attraction, just something to make the kids smile as they walk in here._"

He felt a tug on his hand as he looked down at his sister. She was wearing the pleading dog eyes on her face, a look he knew all too well. "Can I have a balloon? Pleaseeeeee?"

He smirked and nodded, causing her to literally hop towards the animatronic boy. Sam chuckled to himself as he watched this, thinking back to when he used to have that amount of energy as a kid.

Mary went up towards the robotic boy, who was now staring at her. He smiled and handed a balloon to her. "Balloon, dear?"

She nodded and smiled as she took the balloon from him, smiling back at her brother before walking towards the main door. He walked over to her but was stopped when Balloon boy handed out a balloon to him. "Balloon, sir?"

He took the balloon and smiled at the little robot, nodding in thanks and walking towards his sister, both going into the main diner and stage area. Balloon boy smiled to himself. "_Strange...I think that I remember that man..._"

Sam and Mary walked into the main dining area. They both noticed that the stage already had 3 animatronic characters on it, performing to the various kids who were sat down with their parents.

They sat down and grabbed their menu's, ready to order. Sam looked down from his menu and smirked at the 3 animatronics on the stage, remembering them clearly.

"_Seems like they kept Freddy, Bonnie and Chica relatively the same, albeit they look a lot cleaner now from what I remember._"

Remembering the animatronics slowly made him remember the whole entire reason he came to this place. Well, apart from the fact that his sister wanted to go.

The marionette.

When his dad mentioned about the crush that he had on the character back when he was a child, it brought back a few memories of him carrying the plushie with him everywhere he went. He couldn't exactly remember why he liked the Marionette so much, though. Maybe for its design? Maybe because it was so unique compared to the others?

His thoughts were broken free when a different version of Chica walked up to them at the table, holding a little notebook. She was quite thinner than her old counterpart that was currently on stage, but her body was designed in a way that was...curvy.

Sam had to take his eyes away for a second to realise what he was seeing. "_I'm sure that I've seen this version of Chica before..._"

The _new_ Chica smiled at him, holding her pen and paper. She then realised something.

"_Wait...is that who I think..._"

She shook her head. The two young humans noticed this, but paid it no attention.

"Hello, sir." She then looked over to Mary and cast an even bigger smile. "Hello there, sweetheart."

Mary smiled back excitedly. "Hello!"

Chica laughed and brought up her pen to her paper. "So, have you guys decided on what you want to eat?"

Sam nodded and put down his menu. "I have, yeah. I'll just have a regular margherita pizza, no toppings."

She nodded and wrote down his very plain and basic order. She then cast her gaze over to his sister, still smiling. "And what can I get for you, little one?"

Mary suddenly looked shy and hid behind her brother, causing him to roll her eyes and causing Chica to chuckle to herself. "Sorry about her, she's rather shy when ordering things and the like. Can you just get her a small margherita pizza with no toppings?"

Chica smiled and nodded. "Of course, sir. We'll have it out to you asap."

He smiled and nodded in thanks, watching as the...ahem, _interesting _looking Chica walked towards the door of what he presumed to be the kitchen. He looked back and saw Mary scowling at him. He chuckled.

"What's up with you, long face?"

She pouted and tapped his shoulder, causing him to give a mock "ow".

"You could have at least let me order..."

He laughed and patted her on the head. "Well, maybe when you can be a big girl and order for yourself without getting all shy, then you can get whatever you want."

She looked away, still pouting. He snickered and looked towards the backstage, behind where the 3 animatronics were performing. The sign pointing towards a door saying "Prize corner!"

He scratched his chin and remembered suddenly that that's where the puppet used to be in. She used to give prizes to the kids. He looked towards his sister who had stopped pouting and was now cheering on the animatronics on stage.

"Hey, Mary, what's say you and me go to prize corner to meet the puppet and get you a prize after we've eaten? My treat."

She looked up at him and smiled, the sour look on her face completely gone as if it was never even there. "Can we? Oh thank you!"

He smiled and internally grinned. "_We're not just going for you. I want to see her myself, see if my old childhood favourite has changed._"

After they had finished their meal and watched the animatronics perform for a bit, Sam and Mary went towards the prize corner. Mary went to open the door, but Sam stopped her before she could. She turned her head back and looked at him with a confused stare. "Huh? What gives?"

A stern look was plastered on his face, staring down at his little sister. "Just do me a favour and behave, okay? I don't want you getting too excited like you sometimes do and get yourself hurt. Because then I'll have to explain it to mom and dad."

She pouted, but reluctantly nodded. "Yeah...I'll behave."

"Promise?" He said as he crossed his arms.

She gave an innocent smile. "Of course!"

He smiled in response and opened the door for her, holding her hand. As they finally entered, they saw a massive prize box with 2 kids sat around it. All of a sudden, something burst out of it, making the 2 kids laugh.

It was the puppet.

Sam smiled as he remembered when this happened to him for the first time. "_Doesn't seem two seconds ago since I was here when I was 10._"

Not having noticed the siblings yet, the marionette looked at the two kids sat down. Its empty eye sockets glowed to form 2 white eyes.

"Well well, what do we have here? 2 sweethearts waiting for their prizes?"

The 2 kids enthuastically nodded, not seeming creeped out at all by the white eyes that it now had.

"Yes please!"

The puppet giggled and reached into its pize box. Sam felt a strange warm sensation go to his face. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was nearly blushing.

"_Jesus Christ, her voice is so damn cute."_

He didn't remember the puppet even having a voice like that back when he was a kid, but his memory was foggy, so maybe he was just remembering incorrectly?

He felt a tug on his arm and looked down at a curious, yet concerned Mary. "Are you okay, Sam? Your face is going all red..."

She didn't get an answer as the puppet bursting back out of the box caught her attention. 2 wrapped gifts were now in its spindly, long hands. It handed them to the two children and said in a very soft voice, "There you are, sweethearts. Enjoy your prizes!"

The two children cheered and thanked the puppet, to which she patted them on the head. They both ran out of the room, not even noticing Sam and Mary. The Marionette however, did indeed see them. She waved as they kept staring at her.

"Hello there! Are you here for some..."

She felt a lump in her throat as she said this. She recognised the boy next to the young girl. She'd seen him before, a long time ago. She gasped and held her hand against her mouth.

"_Oh my god...it's him again. I haven't seen him in so many years..."_

Sam and Mary coughed, trying to catch the puppet's attention. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at them.

"Oh! Sorry about that, my dears! I was just thinking of something. It isn't important, though."

Mary smiled and sat next to her prize box. "Don't worry about it, mrs puppet! Can I have a prize please?"

The puppet giggled and went back into her prize box. A few seconds later, much faster than last time with the two kids, she popped back out and handed her a small gift and patted her on the head.

"There you are. I hope you enjoy it, little one."

Mary cheered up and went to her brother, jumping up at him in excitement. "Look! Look! I got a gift!"

He rolled his eyes and smirked, turning her around to face the puppet, who was quite amused at the sight. "Yes, that's very nice, Mary...but what do you say to the nice puppet?"

She smiled and nodded towards her. "Thank you very much, mrs puppet!"

The marionette giggled once again. "You are very welcome, my dear." She took a glance at the boy next to her and sighed. "Excuse me, dear, do you mind if you give me and your...brother?"

She nodded. "Yeah, he's my brother."

"Yes...do you mind if I just have a moment with him alone? I need to speak to him about something."

Sam looked confused and stuttered slightly. "M-me? Wh-why me?"

Mary walked off to the door and smiled. "Okay, mrs puppet! No problem!" Before he could get out of his stutter and confusion, he heard the door behind him open.

"Mary, get back here! Don't go off on your own, I said!"

He turned to go for the door, only to feel thin, long fingers on his shoulder softly holding him back.

"Hey, it's okay, I promise. This place is a lot safer than it was before it got remade. She'll be fine."

He turned back around to see the puppet was now out of her box, not even tied to any strings anymore. "Wait...you can get out of the box? And you can talk this freely now?"

She nodded. "I can now, yes. We all got upgraded a long time ago, so now we can roam around the pizzeria with no worries. We all have free will now."

He backed away slightly. Even though she was his favoruite character, he never thought she could _actually_ get out of the box, nor anything about the free will. And he was still catious about the rumours, even if they weren't relative anymore all so much. She noticed him backing around and held out one of her hands. "Please don't be afraid. I need to talk to you. I mean you no harm, Sam."

He stared at her in surprise and shock. "You remember my name?"

She nodded. "Of course. You were always my favourite human. You would always spend time with me, not for my prizes. But just because you enjoyed being around me. While I love all of the children that come here, none of them cared for me outside of getting prizes. However, you were different. And I always wanted to thank you for it. But back then, I couldn't speak outside of pre-recorded lines."

He nodded in response. "_That would explain why I could never remember if she could speak or not."_ He rubbed his head sheepishly, nearly blushing again. "Well, you were always my favourite character. The main reason I'm here, except from bringing my sister because she wanted to come, was to actually see if you were still in the resturant after its remake."

He swore he could nearly see a red tint to the marionette's face. How does a robot blush? Is that even possible or was he just seeing things?

She coughed and giggled. "Heh, thank you. It means a lot to me that you would even remember me after all these years, never mind want to see me. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Coming out of his thoughts, he turned his attention to her again. "Oh, yeah. What did you want to talk to me about?"

She smirked (well, her version of a smirk) and reached back into her prize box. Sam was going to ask her what she was doing before she reached her hand back out and handed him a small gift.

"I didn't give you a gift the last time you came here as a child."

He smiled and took it from her, causing her to smile as well.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

She giggled and then gasped as a thought hit her. "Wait...I just remembered, there's a position here for the night guard duty. The last guard was, for lack of a better word, _forced_ to quit."

He was going to ask what she meant by "forced", but he figured he'd ask that another time. If he got the chance, anyway. He scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm...I don't have a job and I could do with some money..." He eventually smiled. "Sure, where do I sign up?"

The puppet made a sound what Sam could have sworn was a very girly squeal and hugged him, causing him to gasp for air. "Agghh...too tight!"

She instantly let go and turned away, embarassed. "Oh...sorry about that."

He chuckled, causing her to regain her smile. "Haha, don't worry about it. So, how do I apply for the job?"

She pointed out of the door and towards a door just across it. "That's Mr Fazbear's office. Just go in there and talk to him."

He smiled and held out his hand. She looked confused for a second before she realised what he was doing and shook his hand, smiling back at him.

"Well, better get over there. If this goes well, I'll see you sometime in the next week, Marionette."

She giggled. "Just call me Mari if you want."

He nodded and smiled. He walked out and waved goodbye, causing her to wave back.

As the door closed, she went back into her box and smiled.

"_I can't believe he came back...I never thought I'd see him again. The only person who ever actually took the time to spend time with me, even when I didn't have my free will..."_

She shut herself off for a bit, resting before anymore children came in.

"_I have a good feeling about this._"


	3. Revelations and the start of a new job

**The next day. Sam Baker's home, 2:50PM**

Sam had been surprised at how eager Mr Fazbear was to give him the night guard position. Surprised and a bit wary. Especially considering he started later today, which was _way_ too fast for the majority of jobs that people applied for. Now that he'd had time to calm down from his child-like excitement, clear his mind and think more logically, he was shocked at how he wasn't absolutely terrified when BB and the Marionette had started speaking. From what he remembered, they were just basic animatronics when he was a child. So what had given them free will and sentience? He knew that free will and sentience were two completely different things, so how had this happened? It wasn't normal, for sure. If only his excitement hadn't made him completely ignore those facts yesterday when he came across the puppet.

Ah, the puppet. The character who he used to enjoy spending most of his time around whenever he went to the resturant, which was most days when he was a kid. His folks were an average working class family, so money was never really a major issue. His dad worked in a hospital as security and his mother was a nurse in the same hospital. Funny enough, that's how the two had met all those years ago.

Now, he obviously couldn't go _every_ day of the week, but he remembered going at least 3 times a week. And of all those hours that he spent there, at least half of those hours were spent talking to the puppet, his childlike mind imagining that it...no, _she_, was actually alive.

Now, it seems like his dreams had come true. He didn't know why, but they had. And like an idiot, he didn't even react like any normal human would have yesterday when he witnessed it with his sister first hand. Which would have been to scream like a little girl and run off.

He wasn't a tough guy and he knew this very well.

He didn't expect his sister to really think about it as she was only still a young kid, but he was 19. Goddamn _19_ and he wasn't even scared or shocked by the revalation.

This was one of the main reasons as to why he was currently sitting in his bed, trying to rest, dreading the night ahead. But...he was honestly somewhat excited, too. He was going to get some answers, that was for sure.

Before his thoughts could hurt his head any longer, he heard the door open downstairs.

"Sam? Are you in?"

He sighed and shouted back. "Yeah! Just in bed getting some rest for later!"

He'd told his dad about getting the job so fast and even he was shocked, but happy none the less. After all, it was money and it gave him something to do in the day. He'd chosen not to tell his parents about the animatronics appearing like they were..._more_ than robots, now.

They would have called him crazy or just shrugged it off as his childlike imagination coming back. He had a tendancy to imagine things, this much he knew. But this time, it wasn't his imagination.

Mary hadn't really been phased by any of it, which wasn't surprising. She just saw them as fun, lovable characters. She'd told his parents about the animatronics talking and that the Marionette..._Mari_, wanted a word with him.

God, he just realised how confusing that might get. Mari and Mary.

Anyway, he digressed. His parents laughed at Mary's claims, acting as if they believed her, appeasing her young mind. They did, however, look at him skeptically when she mentioned that Mari wanted to talk to him alone.

In response, he'd just shrugged and laughed at her. I remembered saying something along the lines of "I don't know where she gets it from."

She'd pouted at him, to which he'd winked at her as he put a finger to his lips. It took a minute until she understood what he meant and stopped talking about the whole thing.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs, signifying that his father was making his way up. Not a second later, the door to his room opened, indeed revealing his father. He shot Sam a look and smiled.

"Hey, son. Just wanted to congratulate you on getting the job so fast. I can't believe that the guy wanted to employ you so fast."

Sam nodded and smiled back at his father, who looked really tired. "Thanks, dad. Work tiring today, huh?"

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Aye, that it was. Just the typical day, I suppose. Nothing abnormal happened. Anyway, I'm going to catch some shut eye myself. You should probably try and do the same before you start your night shift later."

The young teen nodded and rested his head down on his pillow, his father leaving his room, closing the door on his way out. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"_Well, tonight will certainly be interesting, to say the least..._"

The Mario...Mari, was currently pacing around the pizzeria, it being past closing time now. So, the place was empty of customers and staff alike. She was trying to find the others so she could let them know about Sam being the new night guard. The last night guard hadn't stayed long. She didn't know much as she barely saw him, but from what the others had implied, he wasn't a friendly person. And they didn't like that what so ever. So, they made him leave.

She shuddered slightly.

Suddenly, as she walked past the kitchen, she heard noises inside. She snickered and walked in, spotting who she figured would be in here.

"Hello, TC, Chica."

They turned around in surprise and smiled, realising that it was her. "Oh, hey, Mari!" They both shouted, happy to see her.

She smiled in response and walked over to them, her smile now gone, replaced with a serious expression. "I wanted to talk to you two and was hoping if you could spread what I'm going to tell you to the others."

They looked at each other quizzically and turned back towards her. "Erm, sure. What's up?"

Mari sighed and continued. "There's a new night guard starting here and I know him personally. You girls might remember him, too. Goes by the name of Sam Baker. He used to spend a lot of time around me back when we...you know. Weren't as intelligent as we are now."

They looked shocked, looking at each other. Chica spoke up. "Yeah, I remember him. He was such a sweet child, always wanted to help all of us here at the pizzeria. I also remember that he had a fondess for you as well..." The bulky chicken chuckled and smirked at her.

In response, she looked away and coughed. "Yes...anyway, I want to make sure that he doesn't get scared away on his first night here. He came here with his little sister yesterday and Mr Fazbear hired him as soon as he applied. It wasn't surprising, considering Fazbear really needs a new night guard., regardless of who it is. He seemed rather...unsurprised and quite accepting that I had free will now, unlike when he was a child. But..I think it might have just been his nostalgia of me or this place what could have clouded his logical judgement at that point."

They nodded. Toy Chica suddenly walked up to her with a skeptical look. "He was a nice kid, sure, but what's to say he hasn't turned out like the last night guard that we had? The last 3 night guards that we had treated us like garbage. They're lucky that we didn't..."

Mari looked at her with a stern expression, causing TC to silence herself. "I know. And I'd rather not speak about our past, thank you."

The more slender chicken looked at her and then looked down, obviously upset. "I'm sorry..."

She sighed and looked at TC with a warm expression. "It's okay. I just want him to be welcomed here, you know? And as for the 3 previous night guards, Sam is nothing like them. He actually respected us, even if he was only a child. And this was even when we didn't have the intelligence that we have now, so we couldn't even properly thank him. And yet, he kept coming back to see us. When he saw me yesterday...it was like nothing had changed, except the fact that he's older now."

Chica and TC nodded, walking past Mari and out of the kitchen. They looked back at her as they went out. "Don't worry, we'll make sure the others know not to judge him before they even get to know him."

Mari smiled in response and walked out of the kitchen a few seconds later, heading back to her prize box, eager to meet Sam again.

It was 11:45PM and Sam was currently stood inside his office, having only just made it inside. He took his jacket off and hung it up on a rack near the door. Mr Fazbear had been here when he had arrived 15 minutes ago. He went through what he had to do again and yada yada, gave him the keys for the resturant and went home, letting him get on with his work. He sat down on his office chair and picked up the tablet that Mr Fazbear had talked to him about. It was used to view the CCTV cams around the resturant. The animatronics were nowhere to be seen. None of them, not even the pu...Mari.

He was going to have trouble remembering that name.

His fears suddenly came back in full force. Where the hell where all the animatronics? He'd only just got here on his first day for crying out loud! What if the rumours were true? What if the animatronics had indeed stuffed the night guards into suits?

Before his paranoia could increase, he heard a sound that made him jump up from his chair. It was a knock. More specifically, a knock on the door to his left. He went up to the door and flicked the light switch, revealing the puppet in the hallway. She was smiling at him and waving. In natural instinct, he backed away and under the desk like a little baby. He could hear the puppet start to bang hard on the door, hearing her say something along the lines of "Sam! What's wrong?!"

He sighed and eventually decided that she was probably going to get in eventually anyway. The door wasn't exactly strong and she wasn't exactly weak, no doubt. And even though his paranoia was making him think otherwise now that his head had cleared from his earlier excitement, she did indeed seem sincere when he spoke to her earlier. Thinking this, he got up from under the table and walked towards the door, opening it for her.

She looked at him in confusion and looked concerned. "Why did you close the door and not let me in? I thought you were excited to start working here?"

Another deep sigh escaped his lips as he motioned for her to come in, which she did. He then closed the door to make sure nothing else could get in. He sat down on his chair and she leant against the desk in front of him. He tipped his office hat down and looked at the floor, covering his face out of shame and embarassment. "I let my fears get the better of me. When I came here earlier, my childhood excitement at seeing you act and talk like a person clouded my logical thinking. You shouldn't be able to talk, nor should you have sentience and free will. Doesn't make sense."

She looked at him with a sad expression and put her hand on his shoulder. At first, he flinched, but then he shot her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry. I was worrying that you or the others might kill me and that the rumours were true."

He felt her hand let go of his shoulder and he looked at her, confused. She was staring with hurt and slight annoyance. "The rumours were true. We did kill some guards who used to have your position. It was due to our glitched programming at the time. Whenever we saw someone after hours inside the resturant, we would see them as an endo skeleton without a suit. And considering that was against the rules here at the time, we tried to forcefully stuff them inside said suits. Some of them managed to keep us at bay and survive the week. Some didn't. The reason as to why we have free will now is that we got upgraded with the best technology around. These upgrades were what also fixed the glitch in our programming that caused us to kill those guards. But don't worry...it's safe here now. Unless..."

Sam gulped. "Unless w-what...?"

Mari smirked "Unless you're a predator, which you are not. So don't worry. I won't let any harm come to you while you're here.£

He gave her a warm smile. "Thank you. To be honest, I didn't even think tech like that existed yet. So, that's why everyone spread rumours? Because they were true to some extent?"

She nodded and sighed. "Yes."

"D-do...you remember any of the guards that you...you know...?"

She looked down at the floor, closing her eyes. "Yes. One. He actually survived...somewhat."

Sam gulped nervously at that. "S-somewhat...?"

She looked back up at him, her eyes now open again. "Yeah. Jeremy Fitzgerald. He survived the week, only to have the frontal lobe of his brain bitten off in the daytime at a birthday party by one of the animatronics. Mangle. He basically became a vegatable, from what I remember. Still feel bad that I nearly killed him, along with the others, due to the stupid glitched programming."

Sam winced at that. He sighed and stood up. He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him for moment and smile at him. "Hey, don't worry about it. By the sounds of it, you guys weren't really in control of your actions. Obviously, I wasn't there, but you shouldn't blame yourself for their deaths. Neither should the others. If it was a glitch, it can't be helped. And thank you for the information."

She smiled. "I have to say this, though. After I first saw you, I thought that my own excitement had done the same as yours did to you and blind me with nostalgia. But, it turns out that it isn't the case. I couldn't ever hurt you, even if you had turned bad. You were the only person back then who ever cared for me. As in, actually cared. You didn't just come to me for prizes, you came to say hello. Obviously back then you were mainly talking to yourself as I couldn't respond, but I do remember how cute it was if I look into my memory banks."

This prompted Sam to smile and blush. "Heh. Thank you. I just can't believe that you can actually talk."

She smiled. "I know. I'm glad that you're our new night guard. Speaking of which, I should introduce you to the others."

He frowned and looked a tad concerned. "Oh...yeah, the others. Bet that'll go down well..."

She put a finger on his lips and giggled. "Don't worry, I made sure that they knew not to judge you immediately. Besides, when they came to me, they had said that they do remember your name."

Sam scoffed. "Huh, they do? I'm surprised. I understand why you remember me, but I barely spent as much time with the others as I did you."

Mari smiled softly. "But you still cared for them and visisted them. Some of them might be skeptical as you've grown, but they'll see that you're still the same lovely person."

He blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Awh, shucks. Anyway, better go meet them, I guess. Lead the way."

She turned around and walked out, motioning for him to follow.

He chuckled to himself. "_Well, that went better than expected_."


	4. Getting settled

Sam walked down the hallway with Mari, ready to greet the other animatronics. She turned her head to look at him and gave him a warm smile. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, taking a deep breathe. "Yeah...my head is being a bit more calm and logical now, after our little talk."

She kept smiling and pointed in front of her. "The other animatronics will meet you through there on the main stage in the dining area. We won't be in there long. Just want them to know that you're not trouble like the last 3 guards that we had."

Sam nodded. "What did they do?"

Mari stopped, causing him to stop, suddenly noticing that they'd made it to the door. "I'll have to tell you when we get back to your office. Time to meet the others."

He looked towards her, confused. "We?"

She smirked. "Of course. Even if this place is safe now, I'm still not letting my favourite human out of my sight."

Sam looked away, blushing slightly. "R-right..."

Mari giggled. "Come on, hun."

He turned back to look at her and nodded, walking through the door with her. When he entered, he immediately noticed the animatronics on the main stage. All of them were there, now staring at him and Mari. Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, Mangle, Balloon Boy and the original 4. They all made their way towards them, making him slightly nervous and back off slightly. Mari noticed this and put her long, thin hand on his shoulder, smiling at him.

"You'll be fine, they won't hurt you. I promise."

He gulped, but nodded in the end. They all stood in front of him, staring him down. The first one to come forward and speak was Chica. He remembered all of them. Wonder if they remembered him. Mari said they did if he remembered correctly.

Chica looked at him and started smiling, warmly. "Hello, Sam. Do you remember me?"

He nodded.

She continued smiling, tilting her head slightly. "Good. We sure remember you. We all appreciated you, how nice you were to us all, even though back then...we didn't have our free will and we weren't...working correctly. All of us still appreciate you. Admittedly, some of us..."

She glared at Toy Chica, who looked down in shame. "Thought that you might have turned out like the last 3 who worked here, as you've grown up and all. But...I couldn't see that happening and nor could the others. Heck, even Freddy, who's never really been friendly with many adults, remembers you and would like to say a few words."

Sam nodded nervously. Freddy walked up to him, a stoic expression on his face. He then smirked and held out his fist for what Sam assumed to be a fist bump. His assumption was correct as he too held out his fist and Freddy very softly bumped his fist.

"I indeed remember you, Sam. I'm not friendly to a ton of people, except the kids and my friends obviously, but I classed you as a friend and I see no reason as of yet to not still do so. But...I guess we'll see. I hope that I'm right."

His eyes suddenly started glowing white, causing Sam to gulp. "_For your sake._"

Sam nodded rapidly, trying to smile. "Of course, Freddy! Wouldn't ever think of hurting any of you!"

Freddy's eyes returned to normal and he started slowly chuckling. "Don't worry, Sam. I'm only poking fun at you. We couldn't hurt you. Not if you're still indeed the same. You were friendly to a lot of us and I can't say the same for a lot of the kids and parents who came when we were...defective."

Freddy nodded to him in respect and walked back to the stage. The others came by and introduced themselves, all remembering Sam and vice versa. Toy Chica must have apologised at least 10 times for thinking otherwise before she had even met him again. He, of course, told her that it was no problem and not to worry.

After all of the introductions were done, everyone bid him and Mari farewell as they both went back to his office. As they were walking back, he looked towards her. "So...they're not bothered that you're the only one coming back with me to the office?"

She giggled. "No. They know that we always had a special bond when you were a child. They all know that you enjoyed their company as well and they all appreciate that you treated them so well, but they also know that you and me were always closer than you were with any of them. And they don't mind one bit."

He nodded and smiled. "That's nice of them. And it's nice that I get to spend most of my days here, well hopefully, with you and the others. It's like I'm a kid again."

He felt arms wrap around him as Mari hugged him, causing him to blush slightly. "You're still an absolute sweetheart, you know that?"

Sam stuttered and blushed harder, causing her to giggle like a schoolgirl. "You're so easily flustered...I'm going to enjoy spending time with you."

He rolled his eyes as they made it to his office. She let go of him as he opened the door. "Oh, fantastic. I'm looking forward to you embarassing me constantly on purpose."

Another giggle. "You love it."

That got a smile out of him. "I do."

And with that, they entered the office. Sam sat down on his chair as Mari proceeded to sit on his desk. She smiled and giggled. "So...what do you want to talk about?"

He put a finger to his chin and thought. "Hmm...well, I wanted to reminisce on old times, back when I spent all that time with you as a kid."

Her smile got warmer as she crossed her incredibly long legs. "They were good times indeed. I always looked forward to you coming to visit me. And whenever you didn't...I felt so lonely, even when I wasn't the only one in the room. Which is weird, considering I didn't have my free will at the time. But I do remember feeling...sad, if I look into..."

Sam grinned, "your memory banks?", finishing her sentence for her.

She slapped his shoulder lightly, causing him to feign ow, making the pair giggle. "Yeah. Those. I'm just glad that I get to see you again, honestly. And this time, I can actually speak to you instead of just saying pre-programmed lines."

He nodded and then remembered the question that he asked earlier. "Earlier, when I asked about those 3 guards and what they did...what did they do?"

She scoffed and looked away. "What didn't they do, you mean. They treated us like we were just hunks of garbage to be played around with, talked to us like dirt...and this was after we gained our free will. The guards who died due to our glitchy programming came before that. Those last 3 are lucky that we had free will at that point...Anyway, the last one to work here tried to...touch me in an...inappropriate way."

Sam looked confused for a second. "But...you're robots...you don't have stuff like that, do you?"

Mari looked away, embarassed. "When we got upgraded, they did provide us...sythentic parts what are basically the same as a human's."

Sam blushed heavily, confused and flustered at the same time. "Synthetic...wait, how does that even..."

She shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, honestly. But it felt...weird when we got them. Sometimes I wonder if the upgrades were even needed. But, one upgrade I am glad for is the free will. If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be able to talk right now."

He smiled. "Yeah, that's true...so, what do you want to do for the rest of the night?"

Mari got up and sat on his lap, causing him to blush again.

"Mari?! What are you..."

She shushed him with her long, spindily finger. "Shush...you need to do your job and look at the cameras. And I will join you."

He looked away, trying to hide his blush. "Why did she have to sit on top of there?" He shook his head, clearing the stupid thoughts. "Yeah, I forgot, I still need to actually do my job. So...let's have a look here..."


	5. A quiet night

The night was going pretty fast at Freddy Fazbears. It was already nearing 3AM. For the past few hours, Sam had been watching the cameras. But he hadn't been alone. Mari had been keeping him company. After their rather _interesting_ meeting with the others, they had sat in the office chatting. Most of it was general questions, how the pizzeria had fared since he had grown up and how she had been since then. All and all, it had been a rather peaceful night.

"So, how much did you miss your apparent _favourite_ customer?"

Hearing this, Mari frowned. "Favourite customer? Sam, for the others and especially me, you were our favourite person and friend. You weren't just a customer to us. While the other kids would just come to me for prizes, go to the others to watch them perform or just come to the place for pizza and then leave, you actually took the time to come round to us all with your parent to say hello. Even if we couldn't reply properly back then, we still remember it. I'm not sure that we should remember those times, all things considered, but we do. And we remember how much effort you put into making sure that we all had at least SOME company apart from each other. You were never rude to us, you never caused trouble. Hell, even Mangle liked you a lot."

Sam looked confused at the last sentence. "Wait...Mangle? Man...Oh wait! I remember her now! Why wasn't didn't she meet me when the others did? And wasn't she the one who bit Jeremy?"

Mari looked down and sighed, nodding, still sat on the desk in front of him, her lanky legs stretching to the floor. "She wasn't feeling great. We told her and admittedly, hearing that you were taking the position as the night guard did cheer her up, but she wanted to wait until she was ready to come and talk to you. And about the whole Jeremy situation..."

She leaned in closer to his ear, making him visibly nervous. "Don't say anything about it near her, please? She gets really down when she remembers that day."

He rubbed his chin and nodded. "Of course I won't mention it around her. I guess I'll see her eve..."

"How about right now?"

They both jumped in surprised and looked towards the door. The animatronic who was just known as "Mangle" was now stood there. But there's something Sam noticed that his mind was slowly piecing together.

"Wait...Mangle? Didn't you used to be...well...a _Mangle_ of parts?"

Mangle was stood at the doorway, but not how he remembered her. No longer was she a mismash of wires. She just looked...normal. Well, how she was intended to look, he assumed. Just a female version of Foxy with pink and white colours. She currently had a grin on her face.

"I used to be, yes. But not anymore. They stopped letting kids take me apart and actually fixed me when they upgraded us all. Now, my parts don't come off as easily, so any kids that try to still do it are...well, told to not do so again. Otherwise, they won't be let in. Guess Mr Fazbear actually cared enough to stop the trouble making kids from taking me apart all the time."

Sam smiled, nodding. "I'm glad that he actually did something. From what I remember, I couldn't even bring myself at the time to do that. I always felt bad for you whenever I saw the idiot kids take you apart and run off with some of your parts."

Mangle smiled and blushed. "Heh. Thank you. You always were a sweetheart. You're lucky, Mari."

Mari looked at her and glared, a blush forming. This caused Sam to shoot them both a confused look. "Erm...mind telling me why she's lucky?"

The now giggling white fox just backed off and grinned. "Oh, no reason. Anyway, bye for now, you two. Was nice to see you again, Sam. I'll make sure to come talk to you some time so we can catch up~"

And with that, she walked off, closing the door on the way out. Sam looked at Mari, who was still annoyed and blushing.

"Mind telling me what that was all about?"

Mari's expression softened when she realised that he was talking to her, shooting him a warm smile. "Oh, it's nothing, dear. Don't worry about it. She just loves to tease me is all."

Her answer didn't convince him, but he decided not to press it any further. "I see. Anyway, guess we should go and check on the others. See what they're up to. You can stay here, if you want?"

She nodded and smiled. "I think I'll stay here. Just so you can talk to them by yourself. If you need anything though, don't hesistate to come back here, okay? And don't be too long."

Sam chuckled, feeling like he was actually cared for. Which wasn't a usual case for him. "Thanks, Mari."

And with that, he went off to go and see the others.

* * *

Sam was venturing around the pizzeria, exploring the rebuilt building with interest.

"Wow, it really is just like I remember it."

Upon saying this, he realised that he'd just walked past kid's cove. He figured Mangle would no doubt be in there, so he decided to make her his first visit of the night. He was about to opne the door when he figured that it'd be rude to just barge in (maybe she'd be getting ready...wait, since when do robots wear clothes?). He stopped that line of thinking before it got any more weird and decided to come to a compromise instead.

He would knock.

And that's exactly what he did. "Hello, Mangle? Are you in there?"

It took a second before someone responded. "Sam? Yeah, I'm here. Come in!"

Yep, judging by the voice, certainly mangle.

He opened the door gently and looked inside. Kid's cove hadn't changed much. The table was still there along with the gifts, balloons and posters that the kids had drawn. Mangle was currently sat on a chair in the middle of the room, next to the gifts. Her eyes sparked with happiness when she saw him enter.

"I'm glad to see you again, Sam! What made you come here? Am I already charming you?~"

He chuckled and waved her off. "Pfft, no. I mean, you're all very charming, really. Specially..."

The animatronic fox stood up and smirked. "Mari?"

He gulped and nodded, visibly blushing. She giggled.

"_God, why is she just as cute as Mari?!_" He snapped himself out of thoughts and rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, yeah. She's certainly something. This place brings back so many memories."

She smiled and walked over, hugging him, causing his blush to get worse. "Thank you. For treating me like an actual person back then rather than just a piece of junk to take apart and then put back together over and over again."

He patted her back and smiled. "No problem, Mangle. Always here for you guys."

They pulled apart and laughed, thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Then he remembered something that she'd said earlier. "Mangle...you said earlier that Mari was lucky. What did you mean?"

Mangle giggled and grinned. "Oh, don't worry about it. I just love teasing her is all."

He looked confused. "But that still doesn't answer my que..."

She giggled again, cutting him off. "It doesn't need to be answered. It was just a tease. Nothing more."

This seemed to satisfy him somewhat, but not completely.

"Alright. Anyway, I better go see the others. I'll see ya later, Mangle."

She smiled and waved as he went to exit. "No problem, sweetie. Take care! See ya later!"

As he left, she giggled and turned around from the door. "He's so sweet, but so dense. Cute. Mari really is lucky."

* * *

Sam continued his night venture, walking towards the main stage area. As he entered, all of the animatronics were there, talking about something. They all turned around when they heard the door close and walked up to him, smiling. Freddy was the first to greet him. "Heyo, Sam. What brings you here?"

He shook freddy's hand (paw?) and grinned. "Oh, you know, just getting used to my new job. Wanted to say hello to everyone. Why is everyone grouped up here, anyway?"

Bonnie and Toy Bonnie walked up to him, smiling. "Hey, Sam. We're just discussing what to do for the night. Me and TB are going to go and play guitar. Freddy is going to just chill for the night, Chica and TC are just going to stay in the kitchen doing whatever and the rest, idk."

Foxy came up and shook his hand with his actual hand, not his hook and grinned. "Yar, how are yer doin, me lad?"

Sam chuckled, remembering his pirate accent. "I'm good, thank you, Foxy. Good to see you again."

He smiled. "Aye, good to see you again too, lad. Always appreciated you as the others did."

Sam smiled in response and turned around, noticing that BB and the others were coming towards him, all smiling. They all asked how he was and asked if he was enjoying it so far. After a bit of a talk with everyone where they sat down for about an hour, they all went their seperate ways. Freddy and TF went backstage and took a seat, Bonnie and TB went up on stage, TC and Chica went into the kitchen, Mangle was still in Kid's cove, Foxy went towards kid's cove and BB went somewhere down the hallway. He promised that he'd have a one on one talk with all of them at some point in the week. For now, he was going to go back and see how Mari was doing. It was already 4:30AM, so he only had an hour and a half left. A few minutes later and he was just outside the office. The door was still open. He peeked in and saw Mari looking at the tablet, watching the cameras. He chuckled as he walked in, alerting her to his presence. She smiled.

"Oh, hello again, Sam. What have you been doing?"

"Not much. Just been looking around, talking to the others."

God, her smile was so warm.

"How did it go?"

He grinned and sat down, Mari still sitting on the desk. "Good. They all seem to remember me, which I'm glad for."

She nodded. "I told you they'd enjoy you being here. Y ou really are special, Sam."

He blushed and waved it off. "Awh shucks, I ain't anything special. If anything, _you_ guys are. Especially you, my favourite animatronic."

She blushed in response and giggled.

That giggle was like heaven itself.

He berated himself mentally. "_Goddamn it man, get ahold of yourself!_"

"You're too kind, sweetheart. Hey, want to chat for a bit longer before you have to finish tonight?"

He smiled and nodded. "Sure."

And so they did. They chatted until 6AM, where Sam said goodbye to Mari and the rest of the animatronics, locked up and went home. As he got home, his parents and sister were still in bed, understandably. Being silent so that he didn't wake them, he went into his room quietly.

"Gee, what a night. This is going to be a great week."

He got into bed and laid his head down onto his pillow, instantly falling asleep and heading off to dream land.


	6. Teasing and chatting

It was early morning and Sam wasn't in the best of moods. He'd gotten woken up by his sister at 3AM for a favour that he promised her ages ago and he didn't get a wink of sleep after that. He had tried to rest in the aftermoon but alas, it wasn't working. So, he decided to watch TV until it was time to go do his 2nd day at his new night guard job. It was currently 12AM. Just having made it on time, he'd given his greetings and farewell to Mr Fazbear for the night and was now sat down in his office. He was flicking through the cameras, almost forgetting he even had to do that. His chat with Mari yesterday had completely made him forget to _actually_ do what he was getting paid to do.

"Where is Mari, anyway?" He thought to himself as he slouched in his chair, still flicking through the cameras. Everyone else was in their normal spot. Mangle was in kid's cove, Freddy, Bonnie and Chica were all on stage, TC, TB, TF, BB and Foxy were in the dining room chatting. They all waved and smiled when they saw the camera's looking at them, knowing that Sam was watching. He waved back at the tablet and then remembered how stupid that was.

Before he could laugh at how he just attempted to wave through a tablet, he heard the familar, soft voice that he was starting to love.

"Hello, hun. How's it going?"

He smiled, turning to the left to see Mari stood at the door, who was also smiling at him.

"Hey, Mari. All is good. Well, apart from the fact that I barely got any sleep at all. How about you and the others?"

She suddenly looked concerned and somewhat sad. "No sleep? Why, are you okay? And yeah, the others and me are fine. Thank you for asking. Still not used to people asking how we are anymore."

He chuckled at the last statement and then continued to explain why he didn't sleep. "Hey, don't worry bout me, kay? All is good. Just my sister woke me up at stupid o' clock for some favour that I owed her."

She laughed. "What kind of favour?"

He sighed. "I promised her that I'd bring her here again later in the week because she helped me a game."

Again, another laugh. "A game? You mean a video game?"

He nodded. "Correct. I was stuck on a level and she somehow managed to get past it. Pretty embarrasing that my little sister is better than me at a video game but hey ho."

Mari grinned and walked over to him, sitting on his lap, making him blush. "Don't worry, you're still pretty cool to me."

He looked away, coughing awkwardly. "Erm...thanks, I guess. You're...pretty cool yourself."

She chuckled and looked at him with half lidded eyes. "Oh my, a compliment? My my, haven't you turned into a charmer?~"

He looked at her and chuckled, his blush still present. "Yeah, alright, I get it. Hope teasing me at least brings you some happiness."

She smiled at that and hugged him. "You're too sweet."

He smiled and hugged back. They were about to break away when they heard a giggle.

"Oh ho ho, what do we have here?~"

Mari and Sam both nearly jumped out of the seat and turned to the door. Mangle was currently stood there, grinning.

Mari coughed and stood up from Sam's lap. It was surprisingly cold without her sat there.

"Mangle! Don't you know it's rude not to knock?"

The white fox shrugged. "The door isn't closed. What should I knock on?"

Mari facepalmed. "Alright, alright. Fair point. Just don't sneak up on us like that, okay?"

Mangle grinned. "Oh, why? Afraid that I might catch you two doing something one time?~"

The white fox was suddenly pushed out of the office and into the hallway. Before she could register what had happened, she saw that Mari had pushed her out and closed the door, denying her access. She huffed and walked away.

"Fine, be a party pooper."

Mari sighed heavily and sat back on Sam's lap, making him squirm slightly. "I tell you, that girl sometimes. She's a worse teaser than me."

Sam laughed and tried to adjust himself. "She's alright. Everyone is here. It just so happens that you're my favourite."

She turned to him and smiled warmly. "We're really lucky to have you working here, Sam."

He couldn't control his blushing at this point, something that she noticed fairly quickly. This caused her to grin and give him the good old bedroom eyes.

"Hehe. Seems like I'm having an effect on you already~"

He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to get off of him and sit on the desk. She complied and looked at him. "Awh, what's the matter? Afraid that I might _bump_ into something beneath me?"

She looked at him, him being red as a tomato. She laughed.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'll stop."

He sighed in relief. "Thank yo..."

She suddenly leaned over and put her finger on his lips, silencing him. "For now~"

The blush was back in full force. She giggled and pulled her finger away. "I wanted to ask, hun, what can you tell me about yourself now that you're all grown up? Have any friends, a girlfriend, anything like that?"

He nodded. "Erm, sure, I can tell you a bit more about myelf. I have a few friends, but we don't talk as often as we used to due to them working and having girlfriends now. Me, I don't have a girlfriend, no. Last time I had one was a year ago and I found out that she was cheating on me with one of my now _ex_ friends."

Mari looked at him with a sad expression. "That sucks. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. Cheating is awful. Even a robot like me knows that."

That got a chuckle out of him. "Even robots know how bad it is, huh? But yeah, glad to be rid of her, honestly. She was quite controlling as well."

He looked at her and blushed slightly. "Hey...Mari?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Yes, hun?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and turned his head away slightly. "Can I tell you a secret? It's a pretty embarassing one, but I'm okay telling you so long as you don't tell anyone else."

Her smile still on her face, she put her hand on his shoulder. "Sam, of course you can. Anything personal that you share with me and you don't want it sharing, it'll stay between you and me. Promise."

He put his hand on hers and smiled, causing her to blush slightly as well. "Thank you. You're great. But yeah...the secret relates to the subject we were last on. Considering we were talking about relationships, I just wanted to say that...when I was growing up, I still remembered you. I found my old plushie of you when I was 16 and it reminded me of you. At that time, I was reminded that I had a crush on you. And I still did at the time, even though I'd grown up. The plushie had brought all the old feelings back. Obviously, I can't speak a ton for now...I'm 19. Feelings are weird around my age."

Mari was now smiling even wider, giving off a vibrant, warm aura. "Awh, Sam...sweetie, that is the cutest thing that I've ever heard in my...well, short sentient life. You really are a sweetheart. How someone could cheat on someone as nice as you...I'll never know."

She suddenly looked angry after saying those last words. Her eyes glowed white for a second before calming back down, sighing and smiling sadly. "I'm sorry for that little outburst. It just..._angers_ me to know that someone as lovely as you could be hurt like that."

He smiled and hugged her, causing her to hug back. He looked at her, their faces nearly touching. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm over it. And besides, I've got all you guys to talk to now. And you're all fantastic."

Their faces inched closer. Before anything could happen, however, they heard a slight cough interrupt their heart warming talk.

"Jesus, will you two get a room already?"

They both looked towards the door, that had now been opened somehow, to see Freddy and all the others (except Mangle) looking at them. Foxy and all the toy animatronics were giggling, while Chica and Bonnie were just giving off sweet smiles. Freddy was chuckling.

Mari and Sam both split apart, looking away from each other. Sam was the first to speak up "Erm...nothing happened. You didn't see anything."

Freddy walked in, still grinning and chuckling. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, we just wanted to see how you were doing, Sam. Considering we haven't seen you tonight yet."

Sam smiled, recovering from his blush and awkwardness at the situation. "Yeah, I'm all good, thanks. Glad to see you're all okay. Where's Mangle?"

Foxy walked in and grinned. "Oh, she's still in kid's cove, me lad. We asked her if she wanteed to tag along, but alas, the lass said that she'd already said hello. Said to tell you that if you need anything, go to her."

Sam nodded. "Alright. Thank you, you guys."

They all nodded. With that, they all bid their farewells for the moment. When they all had gone, except Freddy, he peeked back in and grinned. "Try not to have sex in the office. It'll make a mess."

This caused both Mari and Sam to snap their head towards him, blushes and anger on Mari's face.

"Why you..."

With that, Freddy walked off, still chuckling to himself. Mari and Sam looked at each other, blushing and nervously laughing. Sam was the one to finally break the awkward atmosphere. "Them guys _really_ know how to tease us, huh?"

She nodded, sighing. "You can say that again. Anyway, want to come and check out prize corner again? For old times sake?"

He nodded and smiled. "Sure. Lead the way."

As they were walking out, Sam rolled his eyes at the events that had just transpired. "These guys are going to be the death of me."


	7. An eventful night

Sam was currently walking towards Prize Corner, following Mari. He looked around at the posters and everything else plastered on the walls.

"Jesus, some of these things bring back some major nostalgia."

Mari looked back and smiled warmly. "Heh, glad that this place brings back good memories for you. I also have a surprise for you~"

He perked up at the word "surprise".

"Oh, really, a surprise? For me? Why?"

She waved him off and giggled. "Because you mean a lot to me and I want to show you that."

He blushed and smiled. "For a robot, you're way too sweet."

Now it was her time to blush, something that was already becoming extremely common between the two. "Hah, I wish. Anyway, we're here."

Sam looked up and noticed that she was indeed correct. The door to prize corner was right in front of him. Mari opened the door and led him in.

"After you, stud."

He rolled his eyes and walked in, walking up to her prize box in the middle of the room. He looked back at her as she closed the door and smiled at her. "God, no matter how many times I see this room and this box, I can't shake the happy feelings that I got whenever I came in here."

Maril smiled and felt genuinely touched. "You're going to kill my heart from how cute you are and I don't even have a heart."

They both shared a laugh before she looked at him and tilted her head, not far from how a dog would, and smiled. "Now, close your eyes."

He looked confused for a second, but he complied anyway, closing his eyes and humming to himself while he waited. A few seconds later after hearing a bunch of noises coming from in front of him, he heard Mari's voice again.

"Okay, you can open them now."

Sam opened his eyes and was confused at first, before he looked at what Mari now had in her hands. A piece of paper with a drawing on it.

_His drawing._

He looked shocked for a second, which caused Mari to frown.

"What's up? Something wrong, hun?"

Sam shook his head and nodded no. "No no, nothing at all! I'm just taken aback by how you still have that old thing. I drew that when I was..."

She cut him off with her giggle, which he was starting to find more and more adorable every night he was there.

"When you were about 10 or so, yes. You were such a cute kid. I kept this so I could remember you, even if my data banks got corrupted somehow. Even though I wasn't sentient, at the time, I felt it was...right to do so. It was strange. But I'm glad that I did. I found it again in my prize box when I was upgraded and I've cherished it ever since."

Sam looked down for a second, before looking back up at her and smiling, walking over to her and hugging her. Mari looked down at him and snuggled close, closing her eyes.

They stayed like that for a minute in complete silence, just enjoying the embrace of each other, before letting go. Sam broke the silence, even though he would have enjoyed staying like that with her for a lot longer.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me that you'd keep something of mine to remember me. I'm still in shock how you guys have gained sentience and I should really question it more, but to be honest, I'm just happy that I can finally talk to you as a person."

She smiled, oil slightly coming from the side of her eye. Sam noticed this and gave her a confused look. "Hey...you've got something coming from your eye. You okay?"

Mari wiped her eye and smiled at his concern. "Of course. You humans call it crying, correct?"

Sam nodded. She took this as an indication to continue.

"I suppose it was a feature added when we were upgraded. I'm honestly not sure. I've only ever done it once before and that was when I looked at your picture for the first time after gaining sentience."

Sam nodded again, still not really understanding how all of these upgrades were possible. He let it slide for now, however. He looked around at all the other pictures, noticing quite a few in the room. He looked towards Mari and smiled.

"I'm glad that the kids drew pictures for you, even if a lot of them only did it to get a prize. But, I'm also glad that I was there. Least you had and still have a friend, huh?"

She hugged him again and smiled. "You're such a sweetheart."

They sat and talked for a while in prize corner. At about 3AM, something strange happened.

A knock came from the front door of the resturant. Sam and Mari both walked out of prize corner and stared at the main door, looking at each other every now and then in confusion. Sam was the first to speak up. "Wait, it's 3AM. Who the fuck would be here at this time?"

Mari took a serious look on her face and stared at the door. "I'm not sure, hun, but it can't be anyone who has good intentions. Not at this time. This has happened before. It didn't end well. And if it was Mr Fazbear, he would just let himself in. He wouldn't knock. You head back to the security office and stay there. Lock the doors. I'll go warn the others, just in case."

He nodded and walked back to the security room, making sure to get past the door without being seen. He looked at the security cameras near the door. When he did however, the knocking stopped and there was no one there. He looked at the screen in confusion. "Wait, huh? Where the hell did they go?"

Going against Mari's orders (he was the night guard, after all. Was kinda his job), he unlocked the doors to his office and ran to the front door. He looked outside and couldn't see anyone. "Eh, maybe it was just some idiots dicking about. But even then, at this time? At a pizzeria?"

None of it was making sense to Sam, so he went to find the others.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, 3 men with black masks were planning something.

"Alright, we clear?" The one on the left said, the stockiest of the the group. His name was Michael.

The one in the middle known as Andrew nodded, an average sized man. "Seems it. Didn't see anyone or hear anyone in there."

The one one the right who was known as Max, the shortest and skinniest one facepalmed. "You guys want to remind me why we're robbing a pizzeria of all places?"

Michael and Andrew scowled at him behind their masks, not that he could see it anyway. Michael spoke up. "Because, dipshit, this was a famous joint once and still is the last I heard, so it means it'll have a lot of money. Not only that, I got a tip from someone that they still have some old shit from back before they closed down, back when all the weird crap was happening with the robots. They'll sell for good money with how famous that whole controversy was."

Andrew scoffed. "I also heard that they invested in new robot mascots. I remember when this place was run down and the old ones were falling apart. It'll be fun to smash these new ones apart."

Michael slapped him on the back of the head, hearing an "ow!". "Listen, idiot. We're here to rob the place, not trash the stupid robots. If you want to do that then by all means, go ahead, but make it quick and don't dick around for too long. We need to be in and out."

Andrew and Max nodded and hid behind the dumpster, getting their plan into action.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside, Sam was in the office by himself. He had talked to the others and they said for him to go inside the office. He sighed. He knew they were just worried for his safety in case anything bad happened, but still.

"Jesus, I'm the apparent nightguard and I'm being guarded by a bunch of robots. What has my life come to?"

As he said this, he heard a door smash. He whipped his head up to the locked door on his left.

"Shit, sounded like the main door."

He rushed to the locked door and opened it, checking the hallway before actually going out of the office.

He walked out into the hallway. Nothing. He was about to walk towards the main stage when he heard footsteps behind him. Before he could turn his head around, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He screamed and turned around, only to realise it was Mari. He calmed down and sighed, causing her to hug him.

"Sam! I'm so sorry for scaring you, hun. Are you okay? I heard the main door get busted open and I came as fast as I could."

Sam pulled away and smiled. "Of course I'm alright, no need to worry. Have any idea what's going on?"

She sighed and took his hand, running with him towards the main stage area. "Yes. We've had several break ins before and this can only be another one. It hasn't happened ever since this place got refitted and such, but I suppose it was boud to happen eventually."

Sam looked confused. "But why rob a pizzeria?"

She looked back at him as they made it to the main stage area. "Because this place used to be and well, still is, famous. It still has some old relics from when it shut down that would sell for a lot of money. So some idiots think they can get a ton of money from here and cause havoc. Well, they're in for a surprise, I'll say that much."

He nodded. "What do you have in mind?"

She smirked. "You'll see. All I need you to do is to stay in here, okay?"

As she said this, the others came out and smiled at him, coming up to him. Foxy was the first to speak up.

"Don't worry, lad. We'll take care of you. No land lubber is getting there hand on ye."

Sam smiled. Freddy came up and nodded. "Agreed. We'll protect you, don't worry."

He nodded in appreciation and turned to Mari, who was now smiling. "But wait...shouldn't I really be dealing with this? I am the night guard. I'd just need a weapon and some..."

Mari put her finger to his lips. "No no, you're staying right here with the others. I'm not letting you get hurt, not at all. I'll deal with the idiots. Trust me, I'll be fine. I've dealt with _these_ kind of people before." As she said this, she smiled at him. "Don't worry about me, sweetheart. I can handle myself."

She hugged him and then ran off to the door, leaving him in the hands of the others. When she left, Sam looked towards the others, all of them looking towards the door. He went up to Freddy. "Think she's going to be okay?"

Freddy laughed and shook his hand. "Don't worry, Sam. She's handled these type of buffoons before. Trust me, I want to go help her, but she asked us if we'd make sure you were safe and we keep our promises. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side, that's all I'll say."

Sam gulped, suddenly thanking the stars that she liked him so much.

* * *

The 3 masked robbers had seperated. Michael was in the office, Max was in the hallway still and Andrew was sat inside the kitchen.

Mari clung to the ceiling, using her long legs and arms to hold herself up. The place was dark at this time, so with her natural black colour, she blended right into the shadows.

"Jesus fuck, where am I even going here?"

She snapped her head towards the direction of the sound, heading towards it. She spotted one of the masked men. He was currently wandering around, a bit like a chicken with its head cut off. He had a lead pipe in his hand. She chuckled to herself.

"Oh, this'll be fun."

She lowered her arm from the ceiling and prodded the back of the man, making him jump and hold his weapon up. He started shaking slightly, visibly freaking out. "Hey! Who's there?! Guys, that better not be you dicking me about?!"

She suddenly gained glowing white irises in her eyes and growled, causing him to look up. He raised his weapon in fear and tried to swing at her, only to miss as she dodged it and grabbed him, causing him to scream as she dragged him up to the ceiling with her, scurrying off into the darkness with the screaming man.

Michael, who was currently still in the office searching for anything, heard the screams of what sounded like Max. He had a combat knife with him. He readied his weapon and ran out into the hallway, screaming like a mad man, expecting something to be there. To his surprise, there wasn't anything there.

"Sounded like Max. Fuck is going on here? Place should be completely void of life."

He started searching in the hallway, looking for Max. This was Mari's que to strike again. She snuck up behind him from the shadows and grabbed his arm, twisting and breaking it, causing him to scream in pain and drop the knife, letting her grab him and take him with her, his screams also filling hallways.

Andrew, who was now in the Kid's cove, looking towards the door as he heard more screams. He had heard screams earlier but he chocked it off to his imagination. Now he wasn't so sure. This place was empty, though. Surely it couldn't be the guys.

He was about to exit before he heard something behind him.

"What are you doing in my cove?" He heard an aggressive feminine voice behind him, growling as she spoke. He turned around to see that it was...

A fox with white and pink covering its fur.

He backed up to the door, visibly scared. "Wait...what the fuck?! Where did you come from?! You're one of the new robots! How are you speaking like that?!"

She snarled and closed the distance, causing him to raise his weapon, a crowbar.

"Don't come any closer, bitch! I'll smash ya!"

Before he could actually do anything else, he felt a pair of hands behind him. He turned his head around only to see something screaming in his face. A horrible scream that would send chills down any man's spine.

He screamed as the creature took him, grabbing him and dragging him away, watching as the fox in front of him was now smirking.

* * *

Sam was currently sat in the main area still with the others, waiting for Mari to return. He really wanted to go and help her. He didn't like the thought of her being alone against 3 possibly dangerous individuals. He decided enough was enough and got up, causing the others to stare. Freddy stood up and walked towards him.

"Erm, Sam. Where do you think you're going?"

He looked back as he walked to the door. "I'm going to help Mari. We can't just leave her to deal with those guys herself, regardless of how capable she..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the door blasted open, causing Sam to jump backwards as 3 masked men got thrown into the room. Mari walked in after, closing the door. Sam stared at the men and then at Mari, who was now adorning a smile on her face now that she was back in his presence.

"Sam! Are you okay, hunny?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Glad you are. Was about to come and help you deal with the..."

He looked over at the 3 unconcious men, all of which were piled on top of each other.

"Situation. Who are these clowns, anyway?"

She sighed. "Some idiots who thought they could come in here and steal from us. Oh well, guess it didn't work out too well for them."

Freddy and the others walked over to Mari and smiled, thanking her. They went over to the 3 men and tied them up.

She smiled at Sam. "Don't worry, I didn't hurt them. Much. They'll be fine."

Sam nodded. "Alright. I'll call the police and get them to deal with the rest. I was about to come and help you but..."

Mari shushed him and smiled. "Well, you didn't need to. And I wouldn't let you. I'm not letting you get hurt. I don't care if your job is to protect the place, you're not getting hurt. Not on my watch. And anyway, these guys had weapons, so it's good that you didn't try."

He nodded again and hugged her, thanking her and the others. He went back to the office, phoned the police and waited for them to arrive. They arrived in under 10 minutes and arrested the 3 men who were still unconcious. An ambulance arrived as well for the man who had a broken arm. Sam didn't know what had gone done exactly, but he knew Mari had "taken" care of them.

"Remind me never to get on her bad side, jeez." Sam thought as he thanked the police and shut the door. He'd have to go and make a statement about the men confirming what they did but alas, that was a crisis avoided, thankfully.

He looked at the time. 5AM.

"Shit. An hour left. I'll have to tell Mr Fazbear what happened when he comes in at 6AM."

Sam was currently in the office, debating what he should do for the next hour. The whole ordeal had left him a bit shaken, even if he wasn't the one who had to take them guys on. He'd never been in a situation like that before and he hoped he didn't have to be in another one anytime soon.

He heard footsteps at the door to his office. "Hey, sweetheart."

He looked and saw that Mari was now at his door, smiling. He smiled and patted the desk in front of him. She came in and sat on the desk, her tall legs hanging off the edge.

"I'm alright, yeah. Just a bit shaken from today's events. Not every day you experience a break in, I guess."

She nodded. "I understand, hun. I'm just glad that we could protect you. Even though it's your job, I wouldn't want you getting hurt. Ever."

He smiled warmly. It was really nice to know that she cared that much about him.

"I really do appreciate your guys concern. It means a lot to me."

She smiled and nodded. "So, what are you doing for the last hour of your shift? Want me to stay with you and keep you company, make sure you're okay?"

He smiled and nodded. "I'd like that. Thank you."

He sighed internally.

"_Let's just hope we don't have to go through that again._"


	8. That just happened

Sam was currently sat at his office. Two weeks had passed since the robbery incident. He had told Mr Fazbear the next day. While he wasn't too happy with the fact that a bunch of robbers managed to get in, he eventually calmed down and thanked Sam for getting them arrested. They all got a few years in jail, so it was a win for him and the others, really. Thankfully, nothing happened after the incident, so it was all over and done with in his book.

Mari was currently sat on the desk as per, smiling at him. They had spent a lot of time together in the past two weeks. Talking, walking around the pizzeria, talking and spending time with the others. It'd been really fun. He had noticed something strange about Mari in the past few days, though. He noticed that she'd been a lot more..._intimate_ towards him. She had been intimate with him to some degree the entire time he'd been working here, but he felt as if it was just her teasing him. She obviously cared about him a lot before and he knew this from all she had said and done. She protected him from robbers for god's sake. But now, it felt a lot...stronger. Could she like him more than what he thought she did? Nah, he was being crazy. She's just teasing him, that's all. Yeah, totally.

As his thoughts were racing all over the place, she tapped him on the shoulder, waving her other hand in his face. "Hello, Earth to Sam? Are you alright?"

He shook his head and chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. Sorta zoned out for a second there. Anyway, what do you want to do today?"

She smiled and stood up, walking towards the door. "Well, there's some left over pizza that the cook's made but didn't end up serving. Should still be fine to eat. Want some?"

Sam nodded, rubbing his stomach. "Sure. Haven't eaten all day." And as if right on cue, his stomach grumbled.

Mari giggled as she walked towards the kitchen. "I can hear that. I'll be right back."

He checked the cameras as per, seeing the others waving to him, all doing their respective things. After a bit of checking the place, he put the tablet down and sighed, leaning back in his chair. "God, why does my brain have to be so complicated sometimes..."

"What did you say, hun?"

Sam jumped from his chair, noticing Mari in the doorway, holding a pizza box. She looked at him, concerned.

"You okay there?"

He nodded quickly, sitting back down, embarassed at his reaction. "Yeah, yeah, sorry. You just spooked me is all."

She sat down the pizza on the desk, giggling. "Awh, did I make you all scared? Poor baby~"

He blushed hard. "_For fuck's sake, I hate it when she teases me like that!_"

Shaking his head, he watched as she sat down on the desk next to the pizza, handing him a slice. He gave his thanks and bit into it. Was juicy and very tasty.

Mari watched him eat, smiling at the display. "So, what were you saying to yourself when I came back, sweetheart?"

This nearly caused him to choke on his pizza. Thankfully, he managed to avoid death by pizza and looked at her, blushing.

"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it."

She looked concerned. "Are you sure? If it's serious, you can tell me, you know."

Sam waved his hand. "Don't worry about it, honestly."

Before Mari could respond, the door opened, Mangle now standing there. "Hey guys! How's it going?"

Mari looked at her, an annoying expression on her face. "Mangle! Can you knock next time?"

She giggled, shaking her head. "Maybeeee. Just wanted to borrow you for something, Mari. Won't be long."

Mari sighed, nodding. She looked to Sam and smiled. "I won't be long, hun. We can continue our conversation then. Enjoy your pizza."

He nodded in thanks and smiled. "Thanks. Take care you two."

Mangle and Mari both nodded at him before closing the door, making him sigh.

"My brain really needs to shut up."

* * *

Mangle and Mari entered kid's cove, closing the door on the way in. Mari sat down and Mangle sat down next to her, holding her hand. "So, have you told him yet?"

She shook her head, sighing. "No, I haven't. I think he's probably noticed by now, but he's no doubt either not interested or too scared. I am still a robot, regardless of my upgrades."

Mangle hugged her, causing Mari to smile and snuggle into the hug. "Hey, don't say that. I know for a fact that he could never be scared of you. Not with how close you two have gotten."

Mari sighed and let go, still holding Mangle's hand. "I hope you're right. I haven't ever liked someone. It feels so...strange."

Mangle nodded, giggling. "I'm sure it does. But you're Mari. You can do it. I know you can. And anyway, you know I'll keep teasing you until you do it~"

Mari rolled her eyes, but smiled none the less. "You, teasing? Would have never guessed."

Mangle giggled, squeezing her hand. "Just be up front with him. I know that you're scared of ruining your friendship with him and hell, maybe that's why he isn't letting himself get too close to you. But you've got to take the risk. Otherwise, it'll eat you up not knowing if he returns the feelings or not. And if he doesn't, yes, it will hurt. But I don't think that'll stop you two from being friends."

Mari took a minute to collect her thoughts, looked up at her friend and smiled. "You're right. I'm going to make sure that I tell him. And regardless if he returns the feelings or not, I'll still love him. He's too precious to me to NOT love him. We've spent a lot of time together in these past few weeks and it's been the best time of my life."

Mangle smiled warmly, standing up and ushering her to the door. "You're too cute sometimes, Mari. Now go spend time with him. YOU decide when to tell him. Just do it when you're ready."

Mari smiled and hugged her. "No one is touching him. He's mine and I'll make sure he eventually realises it~"

Mangle giggled as well. "That's my girl." They let go of each other and said their goodbyes. Mangle smiled to herself.

"_They'd make such a cute couple. I really do hope it'll work out in the end._"

* * *

Sam was currently looking at the tablet, bored. Mari had been with mangle for about an hour, doing god knows what. It was getting close to 6AM. His shift would be over soon. He needed his bed.

More time went by until he finally heard his office door open, revealing Mari in the doorway. He smiled.

"Oh, Mari...it's you. Wondered when you were going to come back."

She smiled and closed the door, walking over to her usual spot on the desk and sitting down. Sam looked at her. "So, what did Mangle want?"

She looked away, blushing slightly. "Oh, nothing too important. Just teasing as usual."

Sam chuckled. "It's all she ever does. What was she teasing you about?"

Mari waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "She teases me because I spend so much time with you."

He smirked. "Ah. She's always doing it with me as well."

Mari giggled before sighing, causing Sam to look at her out of concern. "Sam...can I tell you something?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Sure, you can tell me anything. You know that by now, surely."

She smiled. "Well, I just wanted to say that I..."

Suddenly, his phone alarm went off. 6AM. He slapped his forehead. "Ah shit. I didn't realise it was already 6AM. I gotta go. Mari, I'm sorry, but can we contin..."

Before he could finish, she grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. He gasped in surprise, looking at her, a scared expression on his face. "Mari?! What are you do..."

He suddenly felt a warm sensation on his lips. A kiss.

Mari was kissing him.

Before he could even do anything or say anything, she pulled away, smiling before letting go of him and walking out of the door. She looked back, giggling. "I'll see you tomorrow, hun."

And with that, she disappeared into the hallway. Sam stood there a few moments, before a smile slowly started to creep itself onto his face.

"Damn...well, that happened."


	9. A difficult confession

It was currently 12AM, Sam just having started his shift. His mind was currently wondering elsewhere, however.

"_I still can't believe that Mari kissed me yesterday...it happened so fast and I'm still...confused on what to do._"

He spun his head around to the door just as he heard footsteps approaching. A second later and Mari was stood at the door, smiling.

"Hey, hun. How's it going?"

Sam just slightly squirmed in his sight, something that she took notice of. He then coughed and started to speak.

"Hi, Mari. I'm alright. How were things here after I left?"

She shrugged and sat on her usual spot at the desk. "Eh, same old same old. Kids had fun and all. Lot of pizza was eaten. Just another day at Freddy Fazbears."

He chuckled. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence between the two for a solid minute before...

"Hey..."

"Hi"

They both stared and laughed as they talked at the same time. Sam spoke up before it could happen again. "Look, to cut to the chase and not make it anymore awkward than it already is, I'm confused about yesterday. The kiss and all."

Mari looked down and rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"I enjoyed it."

This caused her to shoot her head up fast to look at him, looking in wonder at what he just said.

"Wait...what?"

Sam was now smiling, something that Mari really had started to enjoy. "I enjoyed the kiss. Was nice. Haven't kissed anyone since my ex, haha. You were good. Was a little..._surprising_ to say the least, but it was still nice."

Mari blushed, giggling to herself. "You're too sweet, honestly. I haven't kissed anyone before. Was a nice experience."

He kept smiling at her. "Well, it was pretty good for your first kiss, then. How long you felt like that towards me?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, I suppose since you started here, but it got _really_ intense after those idiots tried to rob this place."

He nodded. He remembered that. Strange to think that was weeks ago.

"Ah. I must say, I never expected a robot to like me. Let alone you of all of them. But...I'm glad that you do."

She looked at him, puzzled. "You are? Why?"

He smiled. "Because you've been nothing but lovely to me, even when I was a child. And to be honest, I think I've been slowly gaining some feelings for you as well."

This surprised her, a big smile slowly forming on her face. "You do? Really?"

Sam nodded. "Of course. You're an amazing person."

That last bit nearly made her tear up (well, tear up oil, anyway). She lunged at him, tackiling him off of his chair and onto the floor. She kissed him again, only to pull away after a few seconds. She stared at him with a loving smile.

"You...you really don't know how happy that makes me to hear you say that."

She nuzzled his head with hers, making him smirk. "Oh, I have an idea of how happy it made you with how you just reacted."

Mari chuckled and got off of him, helping him up. Sam sat back down in his chair. However, this time, he noticed that Mari wasn't sitting down on the desk. He looked at her.

"Aren't you going to sit down where you usually do?"

She looked at him, bashfully, a blush slowly forming. "Erm, I was going to ask...is it okay with you if I..._sit down on your lap?...__"_

He looked at her, puzzled. "Erm, what did you say?"

"I said, can I...s-sit on your l-lap?..."

This made him chuckle. "Of course you can, you don't have to ask, silly."

She smiled and sat down on his lap, making him huff for a second. She looked down at him with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay? I can get off if..."

Before she could finish, she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her slender waist, making her blush.

"No, you're staying with me."

She smiled warmly, snuggling up to him. "I'm so lucky to have met you. I really am."

Sam smiled, snuggling her. "Same to you, hun. But for now, I suppose I better actually get back to my work."

Mari giggled and let go, still sitting on his lap, looking at the tablet that he now had in his hands. "Sure, I'll watch with you."

* * *

A few hours had passed. Mari and Sam had watched the cameras, checked on everyone and talked quite a bit. It was currently 3AM. Sam looked at the clock in his office, looking startled.

"Jesus, It's already 3AM. Where the hell does the time go?"

Mari giggled, stood at the door. "I know, it's crazy how fast it goes when you're having fun."

He rolled his eyes. "It's only fun because of you guys. Mainly you."

She smiled. "You're so cute~"

Sam chuckled. "Says you. So, what do you want to do?"

Mari tapped her chin in thought, before smiling. "I want to go and talk to Mangle. About us."

Sam looked at her puzzingly. "Why specifically Mangle and not everyone at once?"

She went over to him and kissed him, making him blush. "Because, silly, I trust her more than anyone else here. Don't get me wrong, all of the other animatronics are my friends as well, but Mangle has always been here for me. Even when the others couldn't. The only other being that I trust more in this place than her is you."

Sam smiled at that and hugged her. "I trust you too. Alright. We'll talk to Mangle now, if you want."

Mari smiled, nuzzling him. "Let's go, hun."

They walked down the hallway together and opened the door slightly to Kid's Cove, peering in.

They saw that Mangle was currently sitting in Kid's Cove, looking at all of the drawings that the kids had done of her. She smiled. "So cute."

She then heard the door creak open, causing her to turn her head. To her surprise, it was Mari and Sam. She smiled at them, waving. "Oh, hello you two. What's up?"

Mari and Sam both looked at each other, smiling. Mari was the one to speak up first. "Considering you're one of my closest friends here, Mangle, I wanted to tell you first. But do me a favour and don't tell the others just yet, okay? I want to tell them when we're ready to."

Mangle looked confused, but nodded, telling her to carry on.

Mari took a deep breath, despite not needing to actually breath. "Me and Sam confessed our feelings for one another."

Mangle snapped her head between the two for a few seconds before a giant smile erupted on her face, causing her to hug Mari. "I knew you had it in you to tell him."

Sam looked at the two, feeling slightly awkward. Mangle noticed this and smiled at him. "Congratulations, hun. Mari's a complete sweetheart, but you know that already. Can I have a word with you in private, though?"

Sam looked at Mari. She shrugged. He then turned his attention to Mangle and smiled.

"Sure."

Mangle nodded and told him to follow her. They went outside of Kid's Cove into the hallway, leaving Mari to herself. Mangle closed the door and then glared at Sam, causing him to feel slightly nervous. "I know that you're a really nice guy, Sam. And I like you a lot. All of us do. Mari's like a sister to me and I know you would never hurt her, but let me just tell you what will happen if I'm wrong about you and you do indeed bring harm to her. I will literally hunt you down, rip out your eyes and then stuff you inside one of the many spare animatronic suits that we have here. Are we clear?"

Sam gulped, nodding nervously. "Yeah, sure Mangle. I wouldn't ever dream of hurting her."

Her expression softened, her cheery smile coming back. "I know you wouldn't. But still, she means a lot to me. Take care of her, okay?"

He nodded. "Of course."

She opened the door, letting him go in first. Mari sat up from the chair in the room, looking at them both. "So, what did you two talk about?"

Mangle looked at Sam and then smiled at Mari. "Nothing too important. Just letting him know how glad I am about you two. Right, Sam?"

Sam nodded, smiling. "Yeah."

Mari smiled, hugging both of them. "You two are amazing. Anyway Mangle, me and Sam should be getting back to the office. If you ever want to talk to us, feel free to pop by."

Mangle smiled. "Of course. Now get going, you lovebirds."

Mari rolled her eyes and walked outside. Sam followed behind, taking one last look at Mangle, who was still smiling at him and waving. He waved back. When he closed the door, Mari was staring at him. "What did you actually talk about?"

He gulped. "Just what Mangle said, really. Nothing too important."

She scanned his face with her eyes. She then smiled, walking back to the office. "If you say so, hun."

Sam sighed and walked back into the office with her.

"_Remind me never to get on Mangle's bad side..._"


	10. Making plans

"Mari, stop! Sto...hah...stop!"

Freddy Fazbears had been relatively quiet as of late. Well, apart from the laughter that was currently coming from the nightguard office. Two figures were sat inside, Sam and Mari. The latter was tickling the former, causing him to squirm and laugh on the floor.

"I never knew you were so ticklish...you're even more cute than I thought~"

Sam couldn't stop squirming and laughing. He never expected that his cause of death would be due to being tickled by a robot. A robot that he had come to really like, none the less. But he couldn't think of a better way to go out.

After the pair calmed down, Mari kissed him slightly, to which he returned in full force. They stayed on the floor for a while, simply hugging and nuzzling. When it was time to get up, Sam looked at her, smiling, sitting back in his chair. She sat on his lap.

"You really are something, Mari. You know that?"

She grinned. "Says you." She suddenly remembered about the time and looked at the clock. It was 5AM. She frowned.

"You have to go soon."

He too looked at the clock and frowned. "Indeed I do."

She turned away for a second, a sad expression on her face. Then, the expression turned to delight as she turned back to face him, causing him to be slightly confused.

"Erm...why the smile?"

She kept smiling. "Well, I know that this sounds weird and all and you don't have to accept if you don't want to...but would you mind if I maybe...came home with you one day?"

He gulped and started coughing. "Erm, I mean...I'd love you to do so, but...how would that even work?"

She looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean, hun?"

"Well, for one, Mr Fazbear might notice that you're gone when he comes in for the rest of the day."

Mari booped his nose, causing him to slightly blush. "You could always just come down on a weekend when we're closed. He doesn't come in until Monday. You have a key that you can use to get in, remember?"

Realisation hit his face. "Actually...that might work. But another thing. I highly doubt that my parents and especially, my sister, would not notice the fact that I brought a very tall, self aware robot back home with me from my place of work."

That hit her hard. She frowned. "True..."

Then, he had an idea. "Then again...both my sister and my parents are going away for a week in a few days." Then it hit him. "Oh shit, no, it's tomorrow that they leave. I forgot."

This caused her to smile widely, showing off her razor sharp teeth. "Really?! That's great! Then I can finally spend some time with you outside of this place! But wait...why don't you want to go with your family on holiday?"

Sam shrugged. "Eh, holidays aren't really my thing. Haven't been for years. Anyway, how could I leave this job, specifically _you_ for even a day, let alone a week?"

She rolled her eyes and licked his face, causing him to blush. "You're so silly. I can't wait to finally spend more time with you..."

He smiled. "Well, same goes for you. They come back next Friday. Pretty lucky that they're leaving so close to the weekend. So, I guess you'll be coming home with me at the end of tomorrow then."

She smiled, giving him a hug. "I guess so, sweetie."

He looked at his tablet, looking around the place. The other animatronics waved as they always did whenever they saw the camera look at them. With everything looking as it should, Sam turned his attention back to Mari and snuggled close to her.

She smiled, snuggling back. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

He returned the smile. "Me either, hun."

They heard the door open, seeing Mangle there, grinning at the two.

"Hiya, you two love birds. How're you doing?"

Mari rolled her eyes, getting off Sam and standing up, causing him to feel strangely cold.

"Hi, Mangle. What's up?"

She walked in, saunting as she usually did. "Not much, just wanted to check on my two favourite people." She looked over to Sam and smiled.

"Going home soon, hun?"

He smiled back and waved, nodding. "Indeed I am."

She nodded. "Don't worry, I'll look after Mari as I always do for you~"

Him and Mari both rolled their eyes, smiling at each other. Mangle looked towards Sam again. "Mind if I have a word?"

He nodded. "Erm, sure."

Him and Mangle walked outside, leaving Mari to herself. Sam was worried that this was going to be another passive aggresive threat, but to his surprise, Mangle hugged him. "I'm sorry for the way I behaved with you last time. I wasn't meaning to scare you, hun. I really do enjoy your company. The others do too, even if they've not been too involved with you. And as you obviously already know, Mari _really_ loves your company. And I'm really happy that she found you, because you two are so good together. She's never felt this happy before. Even when you're not here in the day time, she's smiling now. Happier around the kids, too. So I wanted to say, thank you for making her so happy."

This caught him by surprise, but he shot her a wide smile and hugged back. "I'm glad that I could make her happy. And I appreciate the apology, but I honestly understand why you did act like you did with me the other day."

She nodded and grinned. "God, Mari is so lucky to have you. You're so sweet."

He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Aw shucks, Mangle."

She smiled. "You can go back into the office, now. I don't want Mari to wonder where you've got to."

He nodded. "Of course. Thank you again." He waved as she walked back to Kid's Cove. He opened the door to the office, closing it as he walked in. Mari was currently stood in front of him, raising her eyebrow.

"So...what did Mangle want you for? Again?"

He rolled his eyes. "Just Mangle being Mangle. She basically said that she's really happy that you've found me."

This caused Mari's suspicion to somewhat fade and was replaced with a warm smile. "She's always so silly, but I do love her a lot. She's been like a sister to me for so long. Anyway, let's sit down and watch the cams for a bit before you go, okay?"

He nodded and sat down, getting her on his lap. "Sure thing, hun."

* * *

Sam had spent some more time with Mari before he had to leave work. Mr Fazbear had come in as usual and stuff. He was currently sitting in bed, tired as hell. He heard his door open and saw his father come in. He smiled at him.

"Hey up, bud. How're you holding up?"

Sam nodded, smiling back. "I'm alright thanks, dad. Looking forward to your holiday?"

He nodded. "Sure am. You sure you'll be alright here on your own until next week?"

He grinned to himself, knowing he wouldn't be alone the _entire_ time. "Yeah, I'm sure."

His father nodded, smiling. "Alright, pal. Make sure to take care of yourself. We'll be setting off early, so we'll probably be gone by the time that you wake up. So, I guess I'll see you next friday.

Sam smiling. "No problem, dad."

The door closed, causing Sam to grin to himself. "This should be fun."


	11. Spending time together

Sam currently sat in his living room, watching TV. His family were now away, enjoying their holiday. He was enjoying the weekend, all the silly cartoons were on the channels and he was quite relaxed at the moment. Couldn't get better.

Well, it was certainly better than what he used to be like when his family went on holiday as he now had company.

And that company came in the form of a highly sentient robot what was currently sat on his lap.

"I've never watched a TV before. Fascinating what you humans do to pass the time."

Sam rolled his eyes. "I suppose. I have my Xbox to keep myself entertained if there's nothing good on TV."

Mari looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Xbox? What's that, hun?"

He smirked. "Probably better if I just show you. Come on."

With that, he got up and Mari followed. They walked to his bedroom, which was currently a mess with his video games scattered everywhere. He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Heh, sorry for the mess."

Mari giggled and rolled her eyes. "You really think I care about that, sweetheart? I'm here to spend time with you, not complain about how messy your room is."

He smiled at that. Mari really was so sweet to him. He'd never known someone be so kind to him. Especially non of his ex's. He sat down and booted his Xbox on, it displaying the oh so familiar boot up screen. Mari sat next to him on his bed, legs folded and looked in awe at the screen. "That looks...SO COOL!"

Sam chuckled. "Don't think I've ever seen someone get so ecstatic over a boot up screen. But yeah, it's pretty neat. Anyway, you can use this thing to watch videos, browse the web and mainly play games. You can also connect to Xbox Live, which is the Xbox's sort of online mode where you can play with and against other real life people."

Mari stared at the screen, not letting her eyes off of it. "That sounds...amazing."

He smirked. "I guess. It's pretty good. So...what do you want to play?"

* * *

Hours went by as Mari and Sam spent time together. At first, Mari couldn't get used to the feel of the controller, her having big claws instead of normal human hands. But, she eventually just decided to watch Sam play, finding it more enjoyable. Especially when he got frustrated.

"Oh for fuck's sake! Why was he sat there?!"

Mari giggled, causing Sam to look at her. "What?"

She leaned over and kissed him, causing him to blush. She pulled away. "You're so cute when you're mad."

He rolled his eyes as he blushed, turning his attention back to the screen. "Says you. Sorry if I get mad sometimes, it's just this game frustrates the hell out of me sometimes."

"What's it called again?"

Sam picked up the case and passed it to her, Mari gingerly taking it in her hands, trying not to drop it in her claws.

"Rainbow Six Siege. Great game, but man is it unstable and annoying at times."

She nodded, smiling. "Looks fun from what I've seen. Seems a bit violent, though."

He chuckled. "I mean, yeah. It's literally about special forces killing each other."

She looked somewhat concerned. "You sure this hasn't affected you at all, sweet? I don't want to sound stupid, but I just don't want you taking this too seriously."

Sam once again rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, babe. Don't worry. I know that I get angry sometimes but I know that it's just a game."

She smirked. "Sure about that?"

"Yes."

She giggled, snuggling up against him. "So, what do you think of Mangle and the others? I know that the others haven't talked to you a ton, but I know that they still trust you."

Sam smiled to himself, casually shooting an enemy player who was trying to peek him from an open window. "Hm. Mangle is funny and she seems to mean well. The others are fine. I'm glad that I took up the job."

Mari smirked, rubbing her claw against his cheek. "What, cause you met me?"

He smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Exactly."

She smiled, getting more comfy next to him.

* * *

More hours went by and it was getting close to midnight. Mari didn't really need to sleep, being a robot and all, but Sam had passed out a while ago. Mari had brought him to his bed and tucked him in. She was currently laying next to him, listening to the sound of him breathe in his sleep. She smiled contently. The slim robot didn't know why he had fallen for her as easy as she did him. Maybe it was fate that they met again. She didn't know and she honestly didn't really care. She was just happy that he had started working there. She never believed that she'd experience love or any emotion, really, but now that she had...she loved every second of it.

She thought about the incident a few weeks ago when those robbers tried to bust in and steal from Freddy Fazbear's. They were lucky that she didn't rip their throats out. The worst part about it is all is Sam could have been hurt. Thank god he didn't. If any of those idiots had touched a single hair on him, they wouldn't be alive right now. She knew that the others respected him, especially Mangle. She was surprised at how much Mangle liked him, considering she mistrusted most humans. Apart from the children, of course.

She sighed, trying to push the darker, morbid thoughts about the robbers away. She tried to focus on Sam again, watching his chest rise up and down. She smiled to herself again. This was going to be a fun weekend. She kissed his cheek softly.

"I love you."


	12. Aftermath

It had been a week after Mari had come to stay at my house while my family were gone. My family was now back home safe and sound and I was back at work as usual. It had been a pretty great week. Mari was originally only going to stay for the weekend, but we managed to work out a way to get her to mine and then back to the pizzeria without Mr Fazbear being aware. We pretty much played games, watched some TV and talked a whole lot. We also ended up doing some more..._intimate_ stuff that I won't go too far into.

I'll spare you the main details but safe to say that it was one of the best experiences that I'd honestly ever had. Way more than any of my ex's could have given me.

Mari was currently sat on the desk as usual, smiling at me while she was looking out of one of the office doors. She dreamily sighed, causing me to look up from the tablet and raise an eyebrow. "What's up with you, Mari?"

She shook her head, snapping herself out of her makeshift trance and she turned her head towards me, smiling warmly.

"Oh, nothing, sweetheart. I was just thinking of what happened the other day when I was at yours."

I rolled my eyes and smirked. Ever since _that _happened, she wouldn't shut up about it. I honestly found it pretty adorable. No one had ever treated me this good before and I could imagine getting used to it for the entirety of my life.

"It was fantastic and I really do love you, Mari, but jeez. You _really _enjoyed it, huh? You haven't stopped bringing it up since."

She looked at me with a deadpan expression, making me wonder if I'd said anything wrong. Then, she chuckled as she saw my face and jumped on my lap, snuggling close. "Don't worry, I won't bite, dummy. Then again, I already have~"

I coughed, blushing like mad. "Yeah yeah, I get it. So long as it made you happy, s'all that matters."

She smiled, kissing me on the cheek. "Such a silly boy. You're so cute. So, how is your family doing?"

I shrugged, kissing back. "Eh, they're fine. They figured I'd had a girl round, what with the smell."

Now Mari blushed, jumping off of my lap and sitting back on the desk. "I hope they weren't too hard on you about it?"

I shook my head. "Nah. The only thing what annoyed me about it is that my dad kept making dirty remarks about it, trying to embarass me as all dad's do when their son does something like that. Like father like son, I suppose.

She giggled, but before she could reply, the left side door opened revealing Mangle standing in the doorway. She smiled at us both and waved. We both waved back.

"Hey you two. How're you doing?"

I nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, we're doing fine. How about you, Mangle?"

She smirked, walking up to me. "I'm fine, lover boy. Mangle here tells me that you two had some rather..._intensive_ fun while she was at yours."

I opened my mouth, only to close it. Mari hadn't told me that she'd told Mangle about what had happened. I looked over to Mari and she coughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with her claw. "Heh. Yeah. Sorry."

I rolled my eyes, but I eventually just replied with a shrug. "It's fine. Just so long as you two don't go around telling everyone."

They both shook their head in a "no" fashion. Mangle stared at me. "It isn't up to me to tell anyone and you can trust Mari. Don't worry, it stays between us. Anyway Sam, I need a word."

She ushered me out with her paw. I looked back at Mari and she shrugged, causing me to gulp slightly. "_I hope it's not another threat._"

Mangle closed the door behind us and looked at me, her eyes glowing. "Sam, I really care for you. The same as the others. But let me be clear here. I know what you two did. She told me. In _full_ detail."

I started slightly sweating, coughing and looking away. "Did she?"

Mangle grabbed me, holding me close, surprising me with the sudden mood change. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just want to know if you did it because you care for her and not because of...well, you know. Because you could."

I looked at her, feeling kinda hurt that she would even think that at this point. But, I suppose that I couldn't blame her. She really cared for Mari a lot, like a sister, really. And this was the first time in Mari's existence that she'd ever done anything with anyone. Her being a robot and all, I didn't think it was possible. But it seemed those upgrades that she got added a lot more than I thought originally...

I nodded, slightly smiling. "I know that you care for her like a sister, Mangle, but trust me when I say this. I swear on my family's life and my own that I did what I did because I really do love her. She's amazing. I'd never even think of hurting her and I would never force her to do anything that she wasn't comfortable with."

Mangle sighed in relief, nodding and smiling back, hugging me tighter. "I'm so happy to hear that, sweetie. I'm sorry if I spooked you again, I just don't want her being hurt or used. I know that you're nothing like that, but unfortuanetly, you can never be too careful in this world."

I hugged her back and let go after a minute, patting her on the shoulder. "I know. Trust me, I fully well know what people are capable of. But honestly, you don't need to worry."

After a minute more of talking, we walked back into the office, Mari nodding as we came back in, smiling at us. "You two okay?"

We smiled, nodding. "Yeah. Mangle here just wanted to make sure that we were both okay. No worries."

Mari looked at Mangle, slightly narrowing her eyes. "You better not be scaring my man again, Mangle."

She grinned, turning around and walking out of the office. "Only a little bit, I promise. Take care, you two~"

Mari sighed, shaking her head and looking at me in slight concern. "She didn't go too far, did she?"

I shook my head, smiling. "Nah, she means well. She wouldn't hurt me. She knows how much I care for you and vice versa."

She smiled, walking over and hugging me. "Good. Because I really do love you, you know."

I nuzzled into her neck, sighing. "I know. Me too."

She kissed me on the cheek, giggling. "So, what say we have some alone time while no one is here?~"

I rolled my eyes, smirking. "You really are something, you know that?"

She grinned, kissing me and sitting me down on the office chair. "You know it, hun."


End file.
